Chapter 652 - Vicious Tiger Does Eat Its Cubs

“Eight ninja villages, nine Giant Sages, and I have to collect them all to become the owner of the Giant Shadow Civilization?” Hanwu murmured.

He shook his head as if to dispel those useless thoughts. That goal was far beyond him at the moment. His priority was locating the evil God as soon as possible and rescuing both Qin Shuang and Jing Jing.

Knocking on the front gate of the Giant Wood Village, he shouted at the Apprentice on guard duty, “Guards, let the ladder down for me, please.”

After confirming he was Kokkai Hanwu, the guard lowered the ladder.

“I thought today was supposed to be your coming of age ceremony?” asked the guard. “Why did you come back after a single day?”

“Why not?”

The guard said nothing, but his eyes betrayed the disdain he had for Hanwu. He had long heard that the young master of the Kokkai family was useless. This only confirmed it.

Hanwu didn’t care about the guard’s opinion of him. He just wanted to get back to his family and obtain as many resources as possible to improve his strength.

The guard watched as Hanwu’s figure disappeared down the street. Later, the guard would share this story with his peers, gossiping about how weak Hanwu was.

Meanwhile, the youth in question found his family estate based on the previous host’s memories.

The servants were startled when he entered the gates. “Young master? Why are you back so soon?”

“I completed my mission,” he answered simply before heading deeper inside.

The servants shook their heads. Hanwu had only been out for a single day. What giants could he have possibly hunted in that time? The Kokkai family was destined to fall with him.

Hanwu entered the hall. After hearing the news of his return, the various elders rushed out to evaluate his results. Hanwu carefully studied the minute changes in expressions on their faces.

The previous host had been assassinated. Given that the previous host was mediocre at best, but came from a prestigious family, Hanwu suspected that the perpetrator was someone within the family.

After examining the elders, he realized that all of them appeared normal. At most, they were simply looking down on him for returning so soon.

Am I mistaken?

Hanwu doubted himself until his father—or rather the original host’s father—appeared.

The father’s eyes were harsh, yet betrayed a slight hint of panic. The realization shocked Hanwu.

What the heck? Did this father call for the assassination of his own son? What kind of TV drama is this? Even a tiger wouldn’t eat its own cubs. Perhaps the original host isn’t the real son of the patriarch?

But even then, killing your own stepson is still too much. Unless... Was the previous host a bastard child conceived between the mother and their neighbour?

Hanwu stared at the patriarch of the Kokkai family with interest. With everyone gathered, the patriarch, Kokkai Hakurou, started the assessment. “Hanwu, show us your proof of killing giants.”

His words were cold and devoid of warmth, as if they were coworkers as opposed to father and son. The fact that the other elders paid no attention to it meant this was normal. Hanwu poured out the orbs he collected into the tray that the servants had prepared.

He first poured out the orbs he collected from the three-to-five-meter-tall giants, each white and the size of his thumb. The elders were initially disappointed, but then they realized this was expected.

After all, Hanwu was weak. His parameters were the lowest in the entire family. He was so weak that just learning the three basic Ninjutsus took him two additional years compared to the other children.

Given his strength, killing this number of giants was already considered excellent. Hanwu placed one final orb onto the tray as they were thinking this. Unlike the others, this orb was yellow and the size of a ping pong ball.

The sudden weight almost caused the servant to drop the tray. Everyone’s attention was fixed on the orb. Its size alone indicated that it came from a ten-meter giant. Moreover, it was a different color from the rest.

Regular orbs were white and darkened with strength, going from white to yellow, light brown, dark brown, and finally black. In other words, the deeper the color, the stronger the giant.

A yellow orb meant the giant was adequately strong, or at least on the same level as an elite Adept. But how had Hanwu, a mere Apprentice, defeated a giant as powerful as an Adept?

The stumped elders glanced at Kokkai Hakurou in bewilderment. The patriarch was just as baffled. The ninjas he sent were supposed to have killed Hanwu, yet not only did he not die, he even returned with a yellow orb to boot. This was beyond his comprehension.

“Speak,” the patriarch demanded. “Who gave you the orb?”

The elders immediately understood. It was impossible for Hanwu to have hunted the giant with his power alone. It was more likely that someone had given the orb to him. However, an orb of that color and size would cost at least 500,000, the annual salary of an Adept. Who would give such a precious item to the weak Hanwu? They were all dying to know.

Hanwu refused to entertain the patriarch’s slander. “I risked my life to kill a giant and retrieve its orb.”

“How could you possibly defeat a ten-meter giant with your Ninjutsus? Tell me the truth, and I will give you a lighter sentence. Even if you’re my son, I won’t let you off so easily,” the patriarch warned sternly, playing the part of a father impartial even to his family, as if he hadn’t already killed the original Hanwu once.

“I’ve told you the truth. Patriarch, if you don’t believe me, you can ask someone to test me.” Hanwu was no longer the original weak host. Regardless of the previous host’s shitty hand of cards, Hanwu could use his experience and force a royal flush in the end.

The elders were interested to see where Hanwu’s confidence came from. They had never seen him act like this before.

“Since Hanwu wants to prove himself, I’m willing to send my son to test him,” said one of the elders.

His son was already an Adept at fifteen. Even putting the family’s resources aside, the boy had gotten this far because of his talent. His Nin was also already at 8, the minimum for a Master.

The elder summoned his son. The boy glanced at Hanwu with a look of superiority. Despite the young master being three years older than him, he was effectively useless. In other words, there was no need for him to hold back.

“Fine. Hanwu, if you can defeat him in this match, I will recognize the results of your coming-of-age ceremony,” the patriarch agreed. “But if you fail, I will punish you with the harshest sentence we have in our family for lying to us.”

Hanwu chuckled.

What did the original host do for the patriarch to want to kill him this badly? How did the original host make it to eighteen with a father like this?

When the elders saw the patriarch’s impartiality toward his son, they couldn’t help but inwardly praise him. Meanwhile, the fifteen-year-old Kokkai Toutetsu was already doing warmups.

Today was the day he stepped on the young master!